How to dress well in CM without standing out too much

[dieworkwear]

Agree with all the points.

"... the easiest way to wear those types of jackets is to choose a slightly darker shade of the base color."

This is some great advice. Noted.

With a cold shade of brown I assume you mean the opposite of deep rich colors like chocolate, burgundy, red hues etc.

With rare exceptions, such as preppy guys wearing Nantucket Reds (a type of pink chino), you want the major parts of your outfit to stay within the same color temperature.

Every color has a temperature. If you're in photoshop, you can easily play with this effect. Take a photo and adjust the color so the blue has a bit more red. You will now see the blue get "warmer." This ends up being something like purple.

Browns can also have a temperature. A warm brown will have a reddish undertone. A cold brown will not -- it will be closer to the taupe pants I posted above. There are also "neutral" colors such as a neutral brown.

When you keep colors within the same temperature, your outfit will look more harmonious. Here's an example.

Simon's jacket is a bit warm, so he either needs warm-colored pants or white pants (a type of neutral) to balance out the jacket. IMO, this outfit would look better if these two men swapped pants and shoes. Note, Mark's shoes have a reddish undertone; Simon's shoes do not.

There are some exceptions. Sometimes you can wear a pink shirt with a dark blue jacket. Or burgundy shoes with a neutral navy suit. But these follow very specific dress traditions that you may not yet know when you're starting out. So the easier approach is: keep things within the same temperature. If you're wearing a cold-colored jacket, don't wear warm-colored pants.

 

[comrade]

Simon's jacket looks like it is part of a suit.
If it had some texture or pattern it would look
like a sport coat.

 

[TheChihuahua]

Hi guys,

How would you guys style this jacket within CM? I was thinking of lighter colored trousers/chinos in off white/beige/grey with some brown leather/suede non-oxford shoes. I think jeans and clean sneakers would work as well. Shirt could be a solid color or striped which pattern is larger than the jacket.

It is made of 71% Wool, 16% Silk, 13% Linnen so I think appropriate for most seasons.
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obviously not exact, and you can lose the tie, but another light sports coat example.
the key is to be confident and not afraid to raise the quality of the outfit with a nice pair of oxfords.
You don’t want to give the impression that you are new to clothes. You should try to show that you are informed and go with a pairing that has a historical connection. Remember, it’s ok to break the rules as long as you know them.

 

[dieworkwear]

I normally like how Simon dresses, but think that outfit would benefit from having a different fabric for the sport coat. As is, it looks like an orphaned suit jacket worn with orphaned suit pants. The ticket pocket, grey fabric, and fine pattern are a bit suity.

 

[物の哀れ]

I normally like how Simon dresses, but think that outfit would benefit from having a different fabric for the sport coat. As is, it looks like an orphaned suit jacket worn with orphaned suit pants. The ticket pocket, grey fabric, and fine pattern are a bit suity.

I agree. The northern-lights composition doesn't help either.

Here's a deep cut from very advanced dresser Guido Wongolini, skilfully dressing down a worsted glen check coat, part of a suit, with jeans.

 

[apShepard]

Are charcoal trousers anther thing that one shoould never wear?

 

[dieworkwear]

Are charcoal trousers anther thing that one shoould never wear?

It's not that you should never wear them. It's more that the color is not as useful as the other shades of gray. Most of the time, it doesn't lend enough contrast with dark-colored jackets.

 

[物の哀れ]

I think that charcoal trousers, particularly worsted ones, require more skill to wear with an odd coat than grey.

If we use the Minnis Fresco book as a reference, I think that sticking to 510283 and above is a safer bet.

 

[stuffedsuperdud]

I don’t know about you, but I lived in Scotland for four years—in this century. A guy in his early twenties dressed in flannels, tweed, and tie sticks out like a sore thumb there.

For that picture specifically, the overall style of the guy in the flannels is a bit fuddy duddy but it's logical at least; I'm actually much more put off by how the other guy has the sweater around his waist, as he cannot actually wear it and the jacket at the same time so why does he have it at all?

In the real world, outside of a James Harvey-Kelly photoshoot, I did the flannel trousers, tattersall shirt, merino vest, flannel blazer, wool tie thing in the winter when I lived on the East Coast because the layers kept me warm outside except in the most brutal windchills and allowed me stay CM-ish when I took off the jacket in the inevitably overheated interior. I didn't do tweed or loud guncheck patterns though which would probably have started wandering into cosplay territory*; a solid blue or brown jacket though, even with the affectation that was the tie, wasn't so different to me from the orphaned suit jacket that guys who don't care about tailoring would wear around town when "dressed up."

I lived in Newcastle, just down the road, most of my adult life and my impression is exactly the same as this. The only ordinary person I've ever seen wearing tweed in Edinburgh was me!

My first time ever in Northern England, I was not surprised, but still mildly disappointed, to see that lots of middle-aged guys on the streets wore XL polo shirts with their saggy jeans and sneakers. Like any badly-dressed man in America, only with perhaps more forearm tattoos and an accent I couldn't really decipher. It was more hapless Guy Ritchie villain than Peaky Blinders stud, but oh well that's just the changing of the world and no sense crying over the loss of my fantasy. Newcastle is still one of my favorite places in the world to visit and I'm looking forward to my next trip in a few months.

*I mean, not gonna lie, if money were no matter, I would definitely own at least one five-piece tweed sporting suit (hat, Norfolk jacket, vest, trousers, plus-fours), worn with my Viyella shirts, duck-print ties, and Wellies to tour the grounds of my estate. You know, for when it's too casual for my stroller suit. Manservants in tow, naturally, to carry my booze and reload my shotguns. But alas, in this modern world where my distant cousin isn't married to the ruler of the Austo-Hungarian Empire and trying to form an alliance with the Ottomans to march on Paris, it just doesn't seem practical.

 

[TheChihuahua]

Are charcoal trousers anther thing that one shoould never wear?

you need skills to wear grey. You don’t want to come off like you have never worn tailored clothes before. You need to find a historical connection in a coherence that speaks the language.

so if you turn to “The Bible” of classic men’s fashion (1957 SEARS Christmas Book), a lighter grey sports coat flows nicely with charcoal trousers.
so this could be your starting point, and like a jazz musician you break the rules and improvise off this look.
but it’s important that your starting point is the 1957 SEARS Christmas Book so you can make informed decisions and train your eye.

 

[TheChihuahua]

A good way to dress CM and not stand out is to wear fashion forward shoes. They have a strong historical connection to the language of classic menswear, really a good way to show you have a trained eye and are not new to clothes.

#16 are a good example of how men in classic menswear would wear fashion forward shoes. These are obviously slip on(s) (opera pump/loafer style), but goes to show that progressive shoes have really been a big part of classic menswear.

it’s important to educate yourself on these styles so you don’t look like you just started wearing collared shirts and pants made of material other than denim.
(this of course comes from The Bible of menswear, 1957 SEARS Christmas Book)

 

[dieworkwear]

A good way to dress CM and not stand out is to wear fashion forward shoes. They have a strong historical connection to the language of classic menswear, really a good way to show you have a trained eye and are not new to clothes.

#16 are a good example of how men in classic menswear would wear fashion forward shoes. These are obviously slip on(s) (opera pump/loafer style), but goes to show that progressive shoes have really been a big part of classic menswear.

it’s important to educate yourself on these styles so you don’t look like you just started wearing collared shirts and pants made of material other than denim.
(this of course comes from The Bible of menswear, 1957 SEARS Christmas Book)

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I'm starting to think you might be Donald Trump.

Look at the similarities

1. Lives alone on an island (Trump figuratively, you literally)
2. Has lapdogs (Trump figuratively, you literally)
3. Consumed by petty, online rivalries
4. Repeats the same points over and over
5. Post well into the night, possibly on a toilet
6. Likes country clubs
7. Bad taste in clothes

 

[radicaldog]

Hi guys,

How would you guys style this jacket within CM? I was thinking of lighter colored trousers/chinos in off white/beige/grey with some brown leather/suede non-oxford shoes. I think jeans and clean sneakers would work as well. Shirt could be a solid color or striped which pattern is larger than the jacket.

It is made of 71% Wool, 16% Silk, 13% Linnen so I think appropriate for most seasons.
View attachment 1671677 View attachment 1671679

Please tell us a bit more about what kind of look you’re going for, and in what context. And your age would also make a difference. Otherwise our advice will be useless projection.

Also, are you sure about that vertical buttonhole?

 

[TheChihuahua]

I'm starting to think you might be Donald Trump.

Look at the similarities

1. Lives alone on an island (Trump figuratively, you literally)
2. Has lapdogs (Trump figuratively, you literally)
3. Consumed by petty, online rivalries
4. Repeats the same points over and over
5. Post well into the night, possibly on a toilet
6. Likes country clubs
7. Bad taste in clothes

I thought you were done stalking me?

wrong on a few of those points, but let’s keep it to the discussion instead of personal jabs…

let’s be real here and keep it to the 1964 JC Penney's spring/summer selection discussion points.

 

[radicaldog]

Are charcoal trousers anther thing that one shoould never wear?

They are the classic pairing with the classic white on grey-black Harris tweed herringbone, for example. I also find they work well with blueish donegals and other not too dark tweeds with some dark colour in them.
My dad’s default odd trousers for winter were just off charcoal, and it worked fine with his range of sport coats. I think Biddle did the same (see the description of his wardrobe, discussed here many years ago).

I find it helps to think of grey trousers as rocks, and of the jacket as something that would be found next to it in nature: typically a moss, but sometimes also the sky. Thinking about what colour combos occur in nature is another useful beginners’ strategy. (Many years ago I had a girlfriend who was maybe not the smartest person in the world. As we were driving along the Scottish countryside she exclaimed: “Isn’t it wonderful how nature never clashes?”)

Having said that, I do agree with DWW that mid-grey trousers are more versatile. Again: think of commonly found rocks. That’s why they go with almost anything.